A father-of-two from Bristol convicted of attempting to have sexual relationships with two children and their parents has been jailed for four years.

Laurence Knight was found guilty of attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence between February and March last year.

The 50-year-old, who worked at Public Health England, talked about having sex with a Kent couple and their two daughters.

But Baz and Michelle and their daughters Tia and Aimee, from Dartford, were in fact undercover police, Bristol Crown Court heard.

The Recorder of Bristol His Honour Judge Peter Blair QC told him: "There was an arrangement being made by you to meet up with that couple and groom the two children with a view to sexual activity which ultimately would have been penetrative.

"The court needs to impose a sentence which deters others from engaging in this sort of activity and make people realise that very serious punishment will follow if they start to facilitate the commission of child sex offences."

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The jury was given a transcript of Knight's email contact with Baz about his girls, in which Knight asked him: "Have you licked them while they sleep?

"I had a gorgeous girl sleep over recently. Had some Dutch courage so let my hands wander as she slept. Carefully but lovely."

Knight had always insisted the emails were 'pure fantasy' and he never intended to meet the family.

But the prosecution presented evidence he had researched train times to their home, as well as searching the family by name online.

An NSPCC spokesperson for South West England said: “This was a shocking case in which Knight deliberately set out to find vulnerable young victims online, and then began to make arrangements to meet them and carry out his depraved fantasies.

“The hard work of the police helped to expose him as a dangerous predator and now that he has been brought to justice, other children have potentially been protected from his incomprehensible behaviour.”